Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, and equipment, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, and, in general, poor system performance. Particular inefficiencies may arise when dealing with an automated or semi-automated inventory system with respect to managing interactions between autonomous or semi-autonomous components and other components of the system.